PS4 Owners Can Now Vote On Free PlayStation Plus Games

It looks like Sony is taking a page out of Valve's seasonal sale playbook. The company will be introducing a new way for PlayStation Plus owners to get the max out of their free monthly games by voting on the game they want for free.

Push Square did a write-up on the new feature, explaining that it was featured in the “What's New” section of the PlayStation 4's dashboard. The idea is that you'll have the ability to vote on the game you want to appear as a free title during the following month as a free title for PlayStation Plus subscribers. The feature is tentatively called “Vote to Play”.

There was a trailer up briefly explaining how the feature would work and how gamers could get their hands on a free game by voting for it. It's noted that the three games will be available through the “Vote to Play” section and the game with the most votes will be free throughout that month. It's hinted at that the other two titles will be heavily discounted throughout that month.

For those unfamiliar with the seasonal sales on Steam, it works the same way. Throughout each day of the sale, Valve allows Steam users to vote on the game they want to see heavily discounted, usually anywhere between 75% and 95% off. Voting also rewards gamers with badge progress, so even if you vote for something that doesn't get discounted you still get some benefit out of just participating.

In the case of Sony and PS Plus, the game you vote for will be available for free for PS Plus subscribers, so technically there's a bit more of a benefit for subscribers on Sony's system to vote and hope their favored game gets selected.

As showcased in the NeoGAF screenshots, the three games being demoed were Zombie Vikings, Armello and Grow Home.

I imagine this is a great way to raise excitement for the games that will be made available for free on PlayStation Plus as opposed to just popping up and having gamers end up being excited or disappointed for a game that they may not have wanted in their library.

Adding a democratic process for gamers to get their hands on free games is definitely a good thing. I know some people might be frustrated with the lack of mystery involved with getting a free PS Plus title, but I'm sure a lot of PlayStation 4 owners appreciate the gesture.

For the most part, the service has been very much praised and held in strong regards by the PlayStation community. The PS Plus requirement for the multiplayer on PS4 was swallowed with relatively no resistance from the community, since during that time Sony made the announcement when Microsoft was heavily invested in the whole used game fees and 24/7 check-in, so paid multiplayer looked like a saintly blessing by comparison.

At this point many PlayStation 4 owners feel as if the monthly fees are well worth the price of admission for all the content Sony provides, and having the option to choose a free game will more than likely add to that sense of value.